• Space Chronicles

  • Facing the Ultimate Frontier
  • By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
  • Narrated by: Mirron Willis
  • Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (759 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Space Chronicles  By  cover art

Space Chronicles

By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Narrated by: Mirron Willis
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

America's space program is at a turning point. After decades of global primacy, NASA has ended the space-shuttle program, cutting off its access to space. No astronauts will be launched in an American craft, from American soil, until the 2020s, and NASA may soon find itself eclipsed by other countries' space programs.

With his signature wit and thought-provoking insights, Neil deGrasse Tyson - one of our foremost thinkers on all things space - illuminates the past, present, and future of space exploration and brilliantly reminds us why NASA matters now as much as ever. As Tyson reveals, exploring the space frontier can profoundly enrich many aspects of our daily lives, from education systems and the economy to national security and morale. For America to maintain its status as a global leader and a technological innovator, he explains, we must regain our enthusiasm and curiosity about what lies beyond our world.

Provocative, humorous, and wonderfully listenable, Space Chronicles represents the best of Tyson's recent commentary, including a must-listen prologue on NASA and partisan politics. Reflecting on topics that range from scientific literacy to space-travel missteps, Tyson gives us an urgent, clear-eyed, and ultimately inspiring vision for the future.

©2012 Neil deGrasse Tyson (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A compelling appeal, at just the right time, for continuing to look up." ( Air & Space)

What listeners say about Space Chronicles

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    384
  • 4 Stars
    234
  • 3 Stars
    96
  • 2 Stars
    23
  • 1 Stars
    22
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    315
  • 4 Stars
    184
  • 3 Stars
    121
  • 2 Stars
    38
  • 1 Stars
    42
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    378
  • 4 Stars
    178
  • 3 Stars
    100
  • 2 Stars
    22
  • 1 Stars
    16

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The least helpful review of Space Chronicles.

Any additional comments?

I'm very hesitant to give Space Chronicles a low rating because I like Dr. Tyson as a television host, and I love the subject matter of this book. Plus, I was entertained while listening to it. The problem is that I wasn't very educated by it. I've known 95% of the material covered by it for many years, and that's just from watching the Discovery and History channels. In fact, you would have to be extremely novice on the subject to not have heard it before.

To be fair, I did learn some things about NASA's budget and the government politics that can make or break a NASA project...

...but that's about it.

Another thing you should know before purchasing this book is that it's really more of a collection of articles than an actual book. Due to this fact the same material is covered over and over using the exact same words and phrases over and over (seriously, over and over... Dozens of times in some cases). Honestly, it could have been edited down to about two hours and there would have been no material loss.

Something else that bothered me is how Dr. Tyson inserts his tweets into the narrative. They wouldn't be so bad at the ends of the chapters or something, but they are randomly scattered throughout the book and break up the train of thought in many places. Trust me, it gets very annoying.

Mirron Willis is the narrator. At first I didn't like his voice, (nothing in particular, I just didn't like it) but he's a very competent reader and after a while he grew on me.

That concludes my review.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Robotic Performance

What would have made Space Chronicles better?

The narrator did not sound human. The book itself is a little repetitive, I felt like some chapters were exactly the same as chapters in one of Dr Tyson's other books "Death By Black Hole"

What did you like best about this story?

The chapter about NASA funding and politics was very informative.

What didn’t you like about Mirron Willis’s performance?

He was very monotone in his performance, almost robotic. It made it very hard to focus on what was actually being said.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Poor Read

Would you try another book from Neil deGrasse Tyson and/or Mirron Willis?

yes

Would you ever listen to anything by Neil deGrasse Tyson again?

yes

How could the performance have been better?

If you're going to read a book by an astrophysicist you ought not be scientifically illiterate.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Space Chronicles?

some of the repetitious blog posts

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Neil DeGrasse Tyson does it again!

Where does Space Chronicles rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Of all the books that expand on the love of space travel and the importance being at the forefront of science as a nation. This is the best book I have listened to. I would rank this book in the top 20% of the almost 200 titles I have listened to. But this is a bad measuring method of quality or investment worthiness. Of all the books that I have listened to, few fall in this same category. In fact I can't think of any with the same general topic Neil is tackling here.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Mirron Willis?

Mirron Willis has a great voice and narration. But his lackluster pronunciation of some very prominent men drives me nuts. Also, the V in Saturn V is the Roman numeral for 5, should be read Saturn 5. I would hope that Audible would pick a narrator for a book that has at least some knowledge or interest in the subject mater and would know some of the pronunciations of these terms and names. There are multiple times where it felt like he just guessed at it and kept on going. It feels almost like a lack of professionalism.

Any additional comments?

I blasted Mirron Willis here for his poor pronunciations. But I wonder if the producers should be the ones that need to do a better job? Its just annoying. Its not tomato tomato (That doesn't work in text, but you know what i mean) It's not even close. It's a lack of trying.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

I couldn't get through the first chapter.

Why can't the author read his own book? Dr Tyson has a great voice, which is something I was looking forward to. This narrator's voice is kind of annoying, and made it hard to focus on the content.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narrator didn't know what he was reading

Narrator had no idea about space half of the time referring to the Saturn five rocket as the Saturn "v" rocket.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, narrator lacking

Another great NDT book, as always. Huge fan! Met him in Salt Lake 2 years ago. The narrator just sounds so stuck up throughout the entire book. It bothered me every day how pompous his voice sounds in this reading.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Terrible reading cadence

Could not last 5 minutes listening to this book. No judgement on the content. The readers cadence was all over the map.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

To Infinity and...wait!

I'm a fan of Tyson to begin with so this short review will be biased:
-great content
-great way of expressing scientific ideas to and for us morons
-for science, astrophysics, and space, entertaining and captivating
-great narration
-inspirational
Need I say more?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Wish I could return it

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I just bought this book and the narrator is so inappropriate for this topic that I really wish I could return it. His pacing, inflection, and apparent unfamiliarity with the subject makes listening to this book nearly unbearable. It's like listening to a pompous professor read poetry.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful